Leak detection, especially detection of jet fuel leaking from aircraft fuel tanks, is a very time-consuming task which is often ineffective in detecting leaks in remote, inaccessible locations. Traditionally, this leak detection is performed manually. The existence of fuel leaks can be initially ascertained by the use of fuel vapor detectors. However, these detectors cannot determine the location of the leak or the leak rate. Thus, if a leak is detected with a fuel vapor detector, the area in which the leak is detected must be visually examined. In empty and accessible aircraft dry bays it is possible to visually locate these leaks and estimate the leak rate by manually measuring the size of a fuel spot after an elapsed period of time. Often, it is necessary to first wipe the existing stain dry and apply a red powder to the leak area to brighten the stain of leaking fuel to assist in detection of the size of the fuel leak stain. If the leak is small, this method may be fairly inaccurate.
Not only is this method time consuming and often inaccurate, it is also ineffective in many circumstances. If the leak is in an inaccessible dry bay area, the bay must be disassembled to allow this visual inspection. Thus, conventional leak detection techniques are very labor intensive and can result in large amounts of unscheduled aircraft downtime.